In Boulder visit, No. 2 NASA official lauds CU, Sierra Nevada

NASA's second-highest ranking official visited Boulder County on Saturday to tour Sierra Nevada's Louisville aerospace offices and check out the Dream Chaser spacecraft at the University of Colorado.

The agency's deputy administrator, Lori Garver, spoke about the important partnership between government, industry and academia for advancing the aerospace industry -- and how Colorado is a key toward that goal.

NASA is working with Sierra Nevada Corp. and CU to make aerospace technology more immediately and readily available to the commercial sector, she said.

NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver steps out of the Dream Chaser spacecraft on Saturday during an event at the University of Colorado. Engineers from Sierra Nevada Corporation s Louisville campus and CU students and faculty are working on the spacecraft, which is housed in the Civil Engineering building on campus.
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Jeremy Papasso
)

"What we have here certainly is historic," Garver said. "The entrance of the entrepreneur into the field that has been dominated by government investment, is now poised for rapid commercial growth."

NASA is encouraging commercial developers to competitively produce aerospace technology in the hopes that the agency can then devote more time to pushing the boundaries on space exploration.

Garver said she hopes to see many options for space transportation services to and from the International Space Station, as well as a variety of companies tackling product development. A more commercialized space industry would produce economic growth by creating new high technology jobs in this country, she said.

During her visit, Garver said she is "thrilled" with the planning progress of a 200-acre research campus that is a result of the Space Act agreement between NASA and the Colorado Association for Manufacturing and Technology.

While a specific location has yet to be announced, insiders say it will likely be built somewhere between Boulder and Loveland. Garver declined to provide updates on the campus, which is expected to create 10,000 jobs statewide.

NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, left, and Mark Sirangelo, of Sierra Nevada Corp., talk with Jim Voss and Jeff Forbs, of the University of Colorado Aerospace Engineering Department, on Saturday during a tour of the Dream Chaser spacecraft.
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Jeremy Papasso
)

Elaine Thorndike, CAMT's chief executive officer, said she expects a site decision by the end of March.

"I think Colorado has that same capability. It has the education, it has the government footprint, it has the Air Force Academy, it has some really wonderful resources that don't exist in other places, in the same way."

Boulder County certainly has a vast aerospace industry, evidenced Saturday by the gathering of CU students and faculty and Sierra Nevada engineers. They are contributing to research and development for the Dream Chaser spacecraft, which is housed in the Civil Engineering building on campus.

"We give a fresh perspective on cockpit design, we're thinking of things that haven't been done before," said Dustin Martin, graduate student of aerospace engineering. "It's been really interesting, because this is a vehicle that will actually fly."

Sirangelo said that what had started as a way for Sierra Nevada to help students learn has really become a boon for his corporation.

"They provide so much energy and so much enthusiasm that it makes us realize why we got into this business and why we're doing what we're doing," he said.

The Dream Chaser stands about 40 feet long and 25 feet wide and is made of a black carbon composite shell. It will weigh about 25,000 pounds when fully equipped. Its first mission is expected in 2014.

The spacecraft served as an impressive backdrop for the event's speakers, including Sirangelo; Jim Voss, CU professor and Sierra Nevada's vice president of space exploration systems; and Rob Davis, dean of CU's College of Engineering and Applied Science.

"(The Dream Chaser) is here because of a great partnership," Voss said, "a partnership that is enabling dreams for us, between the government, industry and academia, in the form of NASA, Sierra Nevada Corp., and the University of Colorado at Boulder."

Colorado's aerospace industry workforce is second in size behind California, Davis said, and is in the top five for producing astronauts.

"Boulder, and Colorado in general, are unbelievable aerospace states for industry, for academia, and that's the partnership that we're really here to honor and talk about today," Garver said.

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